The footage provided by the Kremlin shows the Russian President during a meeting with heads of Russian law enforcement agencies in the Kremlin. Photo: Valery Sharifulin/Pool Sputnik Kremlin/AP/dpa
(Photo: dpa)
Riga According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin should have made several “important statements” in the evening. In the end, the Kremlin chief’s third speech since the beginning of the armed uprising by the Wagner mercenary group fell short of this announcement, with one exception.
Shortly after 10 a.m. Moscow time, the Kremlin released a video message from Putin. In the almost five-minute speech, Putin thanked the soldiers and commanders of the Wagner Group, who had made the “only right decision” and “stopped at the last line”.
He was alluding to the turning back of the Wagner troops after they had advanced armed under Yevgeny Prigozhin to within 200 kilometers of the capital Moscow at the weekend. On Saturday, Putin announced that the “traitors” would be punished, but a little later the Kremlin announced that mercenaries who were not directly involved would benefit from an amnesty.
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Putin reiterated the Kremlin’s promise that the mercenaries could “sign a contract with the Defense Ministry or other security services” or “return to their families.”
Addressing the Wagner mercenaries, he added: “Anyone who wants to can also go to Belarus.” The Kremlin had already announced on Saturday evening that Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin would go there. The Russian political scientist Tatyana Stanovaya, who now lives in Europe, called the information that Prigozhin could go to Belarus not alone, but with his comrades, the “only news” in Putin’s speech.
Putin also thanked the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko again for “his efforts and contribution to the peaceful solution of the situation” and emphasized the strength of the Russian state. “An armed uprising would have been crushed in any case,” the president said.
Putin’s speech followed a corresponding statement by Prigozhin early on Saturday evening, which he published by voice message via Telegram. In it, the Wagner boss explained that he did not want to overthrow the authorities in the country, but only wanted to express protest.
Sharp criticism of Prigozchin – without naming his name
Without naming his name, Putin once again sharply criticized Prigozhin. He accused the “organizers of the mutiny” of having committed criminal acts “to divide and weaken the country”. They would not only have betrayed their country and their people, but also those who implicated them in the crime.
At the same time, however, he expressed himself forgiving towards Wagner mercenaries in general. As in his speech on Saturday, Putin emphasized that it is known that “the vast majority” of Wagner fighters and commanders are “Russian patriots”.
According to political analyst Stanovaya, the authorities remain divided on how to proceed with Wagner, as some support Prigozhin while others call for disarmament. Such a split is a “consequence of the lack of a coherent position of Putin”.
The English-language Russian newspaper The Moscow Times observed that even most of the typically pro-Kremlin “Z-bloggers” considered Putin’s speech “incomprehensible and unworthy of attention”. With the start of the invasion of Ukraine last February, the letter Z became a symbol of war.
Later in the evening, Putin held a meeting with the heads of law enforcement agencies. Among others, Prosecutor General Krasnov, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, FSB Director Bortnikov and the head of the National Guard Zolotov are involved, as reported by Russian media. Putin thanked those present for their work, but the contents of the meeting were not initially disclosed.
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